Canadian Corner – July 30, 2011.

The Kings file a grievance against the Oilers over the fitness of Colin Fraser, former Senators forward Alex Kovalev heads to the KHL, and the Winnipeg Jets’ farm team is officially named.

EDMONTON OILERS.

EDMONTON JOURNAL: David Staples reports the feud between LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi and Oilers GM Steve Tambellini has reached a new level, as Lombardi has filed a grievance with the league over the fitness of Colin Fraser, whom the Oilers dealt to the Kings as part of the return for Ryan Smyth. Fraser was recovering from a foot injury, which the Oilers claimed would be healed in time for training camp, but the Kings medical staff determined otherwise, leading Lombardi to claim Tambellini dealt him damaged goods.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’ll be interesting to see which way the league goes with this. It could be difficult to prove the Oilers knew Fraser wouldn’t be fully recovered in time for training camp.

OTTAWA SENATORS.

OTTAWA SUN: Don Brennan bids a less-than-tearful farewell to former Senator Alex Kovalev, one of the most talented, enigmatic players in NHL history.

“His lollygagging infuriated coaches and management. It was also the joke of the dressing room. But generally, nobody said a negative word about Kovalev, who was respected for his accomplishments of the past and seemed to still have the talent to turn a game around, when he wanted.

Curiously, he didn’t want to often enough.”

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kovalev had the talent to be one of the greatest players ever. On some nights, he’d be the best player on the ice. On those nights when he was a Canadien, he drew favorable comparisons to Habs legend Guy Lafleur. On other nights, he’d be invisible.Yes, he had injuries which at times hampered his performance, but there were also a good many nights when he was healthy and contributed nothing. He’ll be forever considered one of the most puzzling players the NHL has ever seen, a player whose motivation seemingly never match his great skills, and certainly not when he was a member of the Senators.

WINNIPEG JETS

WINNIPEG SUN: reports the Jets AHL affiliate in St. John’s, NL will be known as the IceCaps.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Here’s what their logo will be:

Most Canadians, however, upon hearing this name, likely automatically assumed this product would become the logo:

6 Comments

VanCanFan
on July 30, 2011 at 3:30 pm

Can you smell – marketing campaign?

SmielmaN
on July 30, 2011 at 5:19 pm

Lol. When I first read a text only articleabout the IceCaps I really was wondering if it was a Tim Hortons sponsored team lol. I know it’s iced capp in Tim’s-speak, but you never know with marketing and big business nowadays. Awesome that you put the new logo with a iced capp under it lol. Also, it’s pretty shady when the two players you deal, or tried to deal, to a team are injured and their Dr.’s “thought” they were going to be healthy. It’s not surprising that the oilers can’t draw people to their club if that’s the way they do business. It would be like trying to buy anything from a middle eastern person, you know they are trying to screw you and lie to your face about it.

Habsfan1
on July 30, 2011 at 6:44 pm

Smielman: great comment right up until the crack about middle eastern people. At best it makes you sound like an ignorant hick, at worst, a racist douche.

Jeb
on July 31, 2011 at 12:18 pm

Smielman: find another site for those comments.

Edmonton I believe took advantage of a situation in which LA needed to trade Smyth to them and just wanted something in return. Although the DR’s may have believed he would be ready to play, I think LA should have asked for a pick instead. Why not ask for a 4th or 5th rounder and Fraser? Smyth was worth more then this no? He may be overpaid, but he is a leader with pts totals around 50 each year. His contract tapers off at the end to 4.5mil so Edmonton gets a bit of a bargain. Lombardi should have asked for more or at least pressed for a player not recovering from injury. That being said, good job replacing Smyth with the much more affordable Gagne at 3.5mil….good to go with Richards….LA looks to be a real contender in the next couple yrs, and a young team with virtually no bad contracts!

Rob C
on July 31, 2011 at 5:53 pm

I understand all the Kings fans complaining about the Smyth trade but I think that Lombardi is trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill… Fraser may be injured but lets be realistic, the guy was never going to play for them this year anyways. LA is a much deeper team than Edmonton and Fraser had absolutely no chance of playing with them this year so as if he had a snowballs chance in hell of making the kings roster. NHL trades are made on the condition of the teams medical staff passing a player so he must have originally been passed and now it sounds like Lombardi is just pissing and moaning because 2 trades in a row the Kings got bum humped into taking crap players from Edmonton that were done there either way. I hope Lombardi realizes he isn’t making the Oilers organization look bad, just himself… He looks like a whiny little baby that didn’t get his way so now he wants to run and tell mommy and daddy…

Nerdyme
on August 1, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Hey Habsfan1 & Jeb, how do you both know that SmielmaN isn’t middle eastern himself? Just sayin’!

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